Well I think I have decided on my Explorer!!

[Kirby Baker]

Going to go with the Limited. Drove another one today, and it was much peppier (is that a word?) than the XLT I drove a week ago. I dont know why, both were V6's to my knowledge, but once I sat in the rear captains seats, and my arm naturally rested on the center console I knew it needed to be there. Without it, I feel like my arm (or anyone's) would just sort of fall to the ground.

Pretty sure I might also decide on the White Platinum paint, cant fathom why as I know it will be a pain to keep clean, but it really sparkled in the sun today! Other White Platinum owners, would you please chime in on this, keeping it clean aspect?

One last question, my $750 customer cash coupon expired before I could decide which model to order, July 3rd I think. Any chance that requesting another mailed brochure or calling the marketing department will get me a new one? The sales person at the dealer called a marketing number and asked and they said no, but it was a different phone number than the one that I have seen posted here.

Ok, really, the last question for now, when I priced out the Ex with X plan pricing on Ford's site, it is showing $0 for available incentives. Yet the $1000 incentive is still out there right? Is it excluded from X-plan now? Even building the car without X-plan is showing $0 incentives. Local offers shows program 12150 for $1000 valid until Oct. 1. Ideas?

 

[Eaglelake2007]

I have the 2011 Limited with the White Platinum. Love the paint versus the flat white. I garage the car so we take it to the local car wash once a month. The car always looks clean. We are hitting the one year mark this week and we love this car.

 

[Kirby Baker]

Ok, thanks for the reply! I owned a white car many many years ago, and it was a pain to keep clean, but not as bad as the black car I had before it!

A question for the NAV experts here, when I test drove the Limited today, I tried to press the NAV upper right corner of the screen to get a map, and all that would display was a little compass. Does this mean that the map data was not loaded? Is that on the SD card? That is what I assumed at the time, but got to wondering about it later.

 

[RonJrSVCMGR]

My White one is easier to keep clean than ANY of the other colors (the exact reason I went with it). The dust builds on on the liftgate like any color, but you hardy see it on the White. The pollen and dust hardly show up. People ask me why I am washing it because it looks clean and I tell them it is dusty. They say "riiiiggghtttt...."....

 

[Kirby Baker]

My White one is easier to keep clean than ANY of the other colors (the exact reason I went with it). The dust builds on on the liftgate like any color, but you hardy see it on the White. The pollen and dust hardly show up. People ask me why I am washing it because it looks clean and I tell them it is dusty. They say "riiiiggghtttt...."....

If I get the White, yours and mine will be twins! With possible exception of mine having all Black interior, but the one I drove today was the Stone like yours, and was really nice!

 

[tmilicia]

A question for the NAV experts here, when I test drove the Limited today, I tried to press the NAV upper right corner of the screen to get a map, and all that would display was a little compass. Does this mean that the map data was not loaded? Is that on the SD card? That is what I assumed at the time, but got to wondering about it later.

If a little compass just comes up, it means that vehicle doesn't have the NAV option. If the SD card wasn't loaded on a NAV version, you would get a SD card fault showing on that screen. If you look on the window sticker of that vehicle, I'll bet the navaigation isn't listed under options.

 

[cnsheets]

And don't confuse the "sync turn-by-turn" directions for a map Nav system. They are completely different and you can NOT add NAV later, even if they tell you that you can.

 

[Kirby Baker]

I'm fairly certain that this one had NAV. Maybe I was doing something wrong. The sticker on it was $52,500 or so. I know it had the dual headrest DVD's which add about $2k, but I was pretty sure it had NAV.

This is what I know, it was a 302A package, had the Sony radio. I didnt think you could option a Limited out with those 2 things and not have NAV?

It was this:

 

[Kjeffery]

Good choice on the limited. I have the XLT in deep impact blue and love it.

As far as the 750 coupon, I requested 3 or 4 brouchurs because of the delay in buying my EX and each coupon had a different expiration date.

Request another one from ford's website and see what happens.

I am still getting these things with the coupon so I would asume you will get another valid coupon.

To get a better deal wait to the last saturday of the month. the dealer may make a better deal to hit sales quotas for the month. You can get an even better deal if it is at the end of a quarter. I did this and managed 7k off plus the 750 coupon so it is posible to deal. Used the savings to get extras and the ESP for the suv and I was still below the sticker on what I spent.

 

[JUtecht]

I have owned about every color of car out there, and by far...lighter colors are easier to keep clean than darker ones--at least in my neck of the woods. I went with Platinum White for the simple fact that my current Murano is a Pearl White and it keeps clean beautifully (other than the bugs on the front, but it doesn't show dust or grime from the snowy road ways). That Platinum white is beautiful in the sunshine and such a classy look.

 

[peterk9]

I'm fairly certain that this one had NAV. Maybe I was doing something wrong. The sticker on it was $52,500 or so. I know it had the dual headrest DVD's which add about $2k, but I was pretty sure it had NAV.

This is what I know, it was a 302A package, had the Sony radio. I didnt think you could option a Limited out with those 2 things and not have NAV?

It was this:

Voice Activated Navigation is part of the 302A package. Make sure that the SD card is plugged in and that you can bring up the navigation screen before signing on the dotted line.
I also have the platinum white tri-coat and it stays looking clean for a long time. The dust doesn't show and in the Winter the salt splashes don't stand out as much either.
See if you can get the splash guards thrown into the deal and installed for free. I did.
Good luck.

Peter

 

[Kirby Baker]

Ok so it sounds like White is good!

As for the NAV, I did look in the area where the SD card goes, and it appeared that it was not in there, but I didnt mess with it much. Test was more about acceleration than anything else.

I'm getting the feeling that maybe I should try and see if the dealer can do better pricing than X plan pricing? On the 2 build sheets I did on Ford's site, the price difference was only about $3000, which didnt seem like it was very much.

Oh and I'm not buying the car I test drove because they wont budge on the $2000 dvd headrests that I dont want/need. If those were to be removed, I would be fine with the car. So I will have to order a car, probably wont have as much negotiating power that way, right?

 

[JUtecht]

Kirby-After you build on the Ford Website, go to Edmunds.com and find the True Market Value of your build. This was the price I was negotiating with. I took both print outs to my dealer and told them what I was willing to pay. I reminded him that if he met my price, I would order from him and that he had no carrying costs for my order since it was sold before it hit the lot. I ended up getting the TMV price for the car, plus the $1000 incentive and $500 Student incentive actually put me below what the dealer invoice was (which I also knew because of Edmunds.) It worked out perfectly. You can definitely negotiate on an order because if you order, they already have a sale! Good luck!

 

[gdecamp]

Great decision on the Limited. My only advice would be to get the silver like many of us have, it is much faster than the white!

 

[Kirby Baker]

Great decision on the Limited. My only advice would be to get the silver like many of us have, it is much faster than the white!

Really? Since the dealer here has both colors on the lot, maybe I better go test drive the silver to make sure!

So I optioned out the Explorer and came up with these results:

Retail = $50,385
X Plan = $47,358
Edmunds TMV = $47,285
Edmunds Invoice = $46,458

Is it safe to assume I probably wont get much better than the X Plan/TMV price? All of this is before rebates/coupons for an apples to apples comparison.

 

[jrmexplorer]

Really? Since the dealer here has both colors on the lot, maybe I better go test drive the silver to make sure!

So I optioned out the Explorer and came up with these results:

Retail = $50,385
X Plan = $47,358
Edmunds TMV = $47,285
Edmunds Invoice = $46,458

Is it safe to assume I probably wont get much better than the X Plan/TMV price? All of this is before rebates/coupons for an apples to apples comparison.

I would ask to see the SD card and verify it is in the slot for it in the little console that says "Sync" on it. Then press the upper right quadrant and make sure the map comes up with your vehicle location.

Dealers will say "NAV" but what they mean is turn by turn. Lots of folks have been burned by that.

NAV is not something that can be added after production.

 

[Kirby Baker]

I would ask to see the SD card and verify it is in the slot for it in the little console that says "Sync" on it. Then press the upper right quadrant and make sure the map comes up with your vehicle location.

Dealers will say "NAV" but what they mean is turn by turn. Lots of folks have been burned by that.

NAV is not something that can be added after production.

I will do this once the Explorer I order comes in. Not too worried about the one on the lot, not buying that one.

 

[boltsfan17]

Ok, thanks for the reply! I owned a white car many many years ago, and it was a pain to keep clean, but not as bad as the black car I had before it!

I was torn between buying either a white or grey Explorer. When I saw someone driving around town in a Tuxedo Black Metallic Explorer, I decided on black. It is a pain to keep clean, but the metallic paint looks really good.

 

[Kirby Baker]

Quick question for anyone that might know, or have their Explorer and a tape measure handy, Ford published height on the vehicle is 70.4". Is that to the top of the roof, top of the roof rails, or top of the antenna?

I ask because I have a non-standard garage door opening (shorter than normal) and am afraid of ripping off the antenna when I back out of the garage. Planning on getting the Shark Fin antenna, just didnt know how quickly I would need it. Thanks!

 

[peterk9]

Quick question for anyone that might know, or have their Explorer and a tape measure handy, Ford published height on the vehicle is 70.4". Is that to the top of the roof, top of the roof rails, or top of the antenna?

I ask because I have a non-standard garage door opening (shorter than normal) and am afraid of ripping off the antenna when I back out of the garage. Planning on getting the Shark Fin antenna, just didnt know how quickly I would need it. Thanks!

Mine is 70 1/4 inches to the top of the rails. I would say the antenna is likely about another 6 or 7 inches above that. It is a bit tricky to get exact measurement as the area where the antenna is also slopes downward slightly and is rearward of the end of the rails.

Peter